Avatar: Rise of the Rebellion
by bakatora16
Summary: The avatar has been reincarnated. Join Nero,the new Avatar from the Southern water tribe, as he masters the four elements, and discovers the secret behind the secret society known as the Rebellion
1. Chapter 1

"Is that all you've got?" The man whom spoke had caramel toned skin, with graying hair, which was currently slicked back and cut short. On the center of his forehead, a crimson crescent moon rested upon his wrinkled braw. His eyes, the color of sapphires, seemed to be scanning his surroundings. Ice. Ice and water, as far as the eye could see. Although there seemed to be a village in the small distance, consisting of numerous huts, his attention seem to stray away from there. The man's body was completely hidden away by his baggy blue parka, with white fur hood. He also wore matching blue mittens, with blue pants and high black boots. Suddenly, much to the surprise of the middle aged man, a figure suddenly busted out the water, and more peculiarly, the water seemed to trail behind him.

"Your guard is down, old man!" The voice belonged to a male much younger than his opponent, yet still bearing a striking resemblance to him. Like the elder man, this young warrior also had skin the color of caramel, eyes the color of sapphires, and a crimson crescent moon upon his brow. However, the young man's crescent moon had twin, crimson dots on either side. His shoulder length, brown hair swayed in the wind he created with his jump. His side bangs covered both his ears, and a few loose strands landed in his eyes, with a large amount of bangs across the bridge of his nose. His ocean blue shirt was sleeveless, with a v-cut at the neck. Along the edges of his collar, white trim lined the blue cloth. He also wore fingerless gloves, which matched the navy blue, baggy pants he wore. Over his right leg, he bore an ocean blue half skirt, matching his shirt. As a belt, he had a simple white band across his waist. His boots seemed to match the elder man's boots, however unlike his; the tops of his boots were covered by his pants. The young man waved his arms in the pattern of a fan, causing a large wave of water to eloquently flow from behind his back, overtop his head, and directly toward the surprised man. The tidal wave consumed him completely, and carried him off into the frosty sea.

"You win, Nero! You, win!" In between gasps for air, the man shouted towards the younger one, Nero, whom had landed gracefully upon a pillar of ice. A smile floated upon the handsome young man's face, as he waved his right hand towards his side. The water parted, revealing the rocky bottom of the sea, and the elder man who fluttered at the bottom along with a few koi fish. He sprang up, and ran over to Nero, pulling himself upon the iceberg just as the sea came rushing back to its rightful area. Standing side by side, the elder man was taller by several inches. The top of Nero's head reached the elder man's shoulders, making it exceedingly easy for him to place a hand on top of Nero's head and ruffle his hair. "You're getting too good at this, Nero." A proud smile was etched upon the man's face. Once he removed his hand from Nero's head, Nero began to smooth his hair back toward its original placement.

"Well, I am the avatar, dad." Nero looked up at his father, and flashed his bright teeth in a grin.

"And a water bending master. I've got nothing more to teach you son....so you know what that means." Nero's father's voice seemed heavy as he spoke, filled with sorrow while having just a small spike of pride mixed within.

"Yeah...I do. It's time for me to leave the Southern water tribe, and master the other three elements." Nero's grin faded. He wasn't ready to leave his home, but he knew it was coming ever since he found out about his destiny at the tender age of sixteen. That was a year ago, and he had more than mastered water bending. It was high time to move on.

"Chief Hakuren, the warriors await your training!" A voice, deep yet gentle cried out from the village. Hakuren let out a groan, just barely loud enough for Nero to hear. He rather hated training the new warriors, as he always found himself getting injured by a stray boomerang, or cut by a sword that had been disarmed. Nero sympathized with his father, as he was in charge of training new water benders, and always found him being blasted by an uncontrolled stream of water, or nearly frozen by one of his pupils who tried to master water manipulation well before they were ready.

"I better go, sadly. You should start getting packed; the tribe will send you off tonight." Hakuren patted his son on the right shoulder, and jumped towards the water, forming a bridge of ice that he walked across back towards the tribe. Once his father was well out of site, Nero sighed heavily, before jumping in the water himself. He formed a surfboard out of ice, and controlled the waves in order to propel himself back toward his village.

"If I gave my everything to you, would my everything be for nothing? But if you promise to, stay so true, I won't be afraid to fall for you. So baby please look my way. I want you to see what I've been seeing. I belong with you, so be my boo, and give me the chance to fall in love with you. So please, please, please look my way.

I'm on the edge, close to slipping'. Just take my hand, ignore all plans, and see what destiny has in store." Nero, having returned to the snowy village that is the southern water tribe, found himself singing to a group of female admirers by the edge of the sea. The fact that Nero was generally viewed as a handsome young man, along with the fact that he had a very pleasant singing voice caused him to often be the object of the tribe's teenage girls' affection.

"Ok, break it up ladies." From the modest-sized hut on Nero's left, a female's voice floated out. It had a very odd combination of being sweet, yet stern. A young female, appearing to be the same age as Nero walked out of the hut. Like Nero, her skin was caramel colored and her eyes shimmered the color of sapphires. Her wavy, dark brown hair extended to her waist, with a thick layer of hair hanging across the left side of her forehead and in the corner of her left eye, ending just slightly below it. Her face was just slightly rounded, due to her large cheeks, but otherwise she was a generally slim girl. Her ocean blue shirt had short sleeves, and extended down to give her a skirt overtop her navy blue pants. Around her waist, she bore a plain white piece of cloth she used as a belt, and on either side of her belt she kept a brown sac used to hold water, called water skins. Her brown boots extended high, covering parts of her pants and ended at the ankle.

"Don't be a buzz kill, Kuru." Nero stopped singing, and despite his rather lecturing choice of words, he had been smiling at the sight of Kuru. Kuru was the only female in the tribe whom was immune to Nero's charm, and that ironically made her the closest person to Nero. The two had grown up together, and did nearly everything together. In fact, she learned water bending with Nero and even helped teach the water bender trainee's whenever he so graciously requested.

"You should be packing for your trip. I'm already packed...are you?" She crept closer to Nero, and was now standing next to him. Nero was several inches taller than her, a fact he teased her about constantly.

"I've been packed for quite some time now...but why are you packed? You aren't coming."

"Oh? And why not?" Kuru stared deep into Nero's eyes. He hated when she did that as it always meant she had a million reasons to counter Nero's one or two.

"It might get dangerous." Even in Nero's head, his reason sounded feeble, but he meant it. Nero would kill himself if something should ever happen to his childhood friend.

"You think I can't take care of myself?" Kuru at first, seemed angry at Nero, but she simply smirked, and with a quick chop of her hand, a whip of water smacked Nero in the face. He fell to the ground, but quickly rolled back to his feet. He looked around at his surroundings. On either side of him, people had been pouring out of their huts like rain, and joining the crowd of female admirers. They looked on at the pair, becoming increasingly interested in the outcome of the battle ready to unfold. Kuru stood in her usual ready stance, both knees slightly bent with both hands opened, with her fingers pointed in the air. Her right hand was extended straight out in front of her, parallel to her head, while her left hand rested just slightly in front of her chest.

"You want to take it there? Fine then, let's see what you've got!" Nero always found himself excited when it came to combat. With an open palm, he thrust his right hand forward towards Kuru, which caused the snow in front of him to turn to water, and spiral into Kuru's chest. She slid back a bit, before dragging her hands across the snow and flinging it at Nero, causing icicles to rapidly fire at him. Nero performed a hands-free cartwheel, causing three icicles to pass harmlessly on either side of him. Once landing, he slid on his knees, allowing the remaining two to fly over top of him. By then however, Kuru had raised her hands high, and then pulled them both back hard, sending water from the sea behind Nero towards his back in a large tidal wave. Nero then quickly sprang to his feet, held his right hand towards the wave, and allowed it to slam into it. The wave turned into ice almost instantly, and Nero whipped around, forming a drill of water out of the ice wave. Just before it reached Kuru, she forced the snow to move up in front of her, turning into a wall of water that canceled out the drill. Kuru placed her hands very low, nearly touching the snow beneath her, and raised them slowly, forcing a massive amount of water to form. She then spun around while waving her arms around her, resulting in the water taking a semi-solid form. Once she had fully finished, the water had formed eight tentacles which surrounded Kuru, and responded to her movements.

Kuru's specialty, aside from healing, was her octopus form. She moved so eloquently with her aqua tentacles, they appeared like extensions of her own body. It was often hard to tell the difference between Kuru's physical limbs, and her tentacles, and it resulted in her combat being nearly unmatched. "I guess you're serious." Nero sighed, and brought a massive amount of water from the sea behind the two combatants, towards his own body. Overtop his head, the water he summoned turned to solid ice, forming a helmet that resembled a wolf with its mouth open. Nero's actual head stuck out in the opening of the wolf's mouth, with its bottom jaw lining Nero's chin and its top jaw at eyebrow level. Semi-solid water formed over Nero's arms, and just above his waist to take the form of a wolf's tail. The water expanded over his hands, forming large claws, with ice for the tips, and ice streaked up and down Nero's tail. Overtop his chest, ice armor formed. Nero's self made form, which he referred to as Lupine hunter, was his response to Kuru's mastery of the Octopus form. Where the Octopus form was was more defensive, the Lupine hunter form focused more on offense and agility.

Kuru fired one of her tentacles towards Nero, whose new form allowed him to rapidly form ice to skate on below his feet with no conscious effort, allowing an increase in mobility. He approached Kuru quickly, crossed his arms, and slashed towards her. The icicles that resided on the tips of his claws fired off towards Kuru, whom easily grabbed them out of the sky with her tentacles, and effortlessly tossed them aside. Nero jumped high into the sky, using a burst of water to propel him higher, and spun in a ball. With a mighty yell, he sent all of the water and ice which had collected upon his body towards her in a large, wolf shaped wave of water and smashed into Kuru. Once he landed however, his foot slipped into the ice and instantly froze. "Ha! We tied." Kuru had been engulfed in ice, except for her head due to Nero's attack.

"Hardly! All you got on me was freezing my foot; I froze your whole body. But..." Nero used his arms to bend his foot free, and then released Kuru from her ice prison. She slid onto the ground, and quickly picked herself off it. "...I see your point. I guess I can't convince you otherwise, but the moment things get out of control, I'm sending you back home." Kuru ran over to Nero, and quickly embraced him, before running back into her own hut to finish getting ready to leave.

Night came almost too quickly, and soon Nero and Kuru found themselves by the edge of the sea once more. This time, however, the entire tribe had been standing before them, wishing them off. A large, brown wooden boat floated in the sea behind them, and had already been ready for them to board. It operated on water bending, which allowed it to sail with no rows. Hakuren stepped up, giving the two water benders a hug, and then kneeled before his son. He had a long, rectangular object in his hands wrapped in cloth, which he held up towards Nero.

"Avatar Nero, I present you with this." As his father spoke, Nero had reached his hands out and unraveled the cloth off the object. It was a sword. A Chinese jian to be more specific. The sheath was dark blue. And the handle was turquoise with a gold hilt. He pulled the sword out of its sheath, revealing a blade as white as snow. It was a beautiful weapon, Nero acknowledged, and carefully placed it back within its sheath. It was then that he noticed the bottom of the handle held the symbol of the water tribe, a crescent moon with three waves beside it. He placed it across his back, and bowed to his father. "This sword was passed down to me by the great Water tribe chief Sokka, whom made it himself after he recovered from the battle of Sozin's comet. May his valor and spirit protect you on your journey." He then tightly embraced his son once more, and sent the two on their way. Nero and Kuru boarded their ship, and set sail.

"Next stop...the fire nation." Nero allowed the wind to blow through his hair, as he left the comforts of the Southern water tribe, and started his quest to master all four elements of bending.


	2. Chapter 2

Kuru shivered as the crisp, ocean breeze fluttered across her skin. It had been nearly two days since Nero and her set sail for the fire nation, and they were already less than half a day away. "The moon looks so beautiful reflected on the water…" Kuru crossed the deck of the large, water tribe boat towards the front, where Nero had been propelling the ship using water bending.

"Yeah…yeah it does." Nero turned towards Kuru, and flashed her one of his famous grins, which showed off his pearly white teeth. Even in the darkness of nightfall, his teeth shined like a beacon of hope. He then turned his attention towards the sea once more, and began moving his arms in a rowing fashion. "We should reach the fire nation by the afternoon, as long as we keep up this pace." Kuru nodded her head slowly, and then yawned loudly. "Go below deck and get some rest. I'll wake you in the morning."

"Aren't you tired? We can take shifts if you'd like." Kuru suggested, placing her hands on her hips and leaning in towards Nero.

"I slept earlier, so not really. I'll be fine, go ahead and sleep." Nero smiled, as the wind blew through his hair, as if someone were rubbing their fingers through it. Kuru nodded, and headed towards the back of the large ship, and descended the staircase towards the set of beds in order to sleep.

"Land ahoy!" Kuru leaned excitedly over the edge of the ship, her slender finger outstretched towards the fire nation's Capital city shores. Kuru had taken over control of the ship once she woke up, allowing Nero to lay his body out on the deck of the ship, and take a quick nap while basking in the sun's rays. After Kuru shouted, he sat up and rubbed his eyes gently, and prepared to help Kuru dock the ship safely at the shore. Plopping down upon the gray cement walkway, Nero quickly took the lead into the Capital city. "You walk as if you already know who your fire bending teacher is going to be. Shouldn't we be talking to people? Or maybe even asking for demonstrations of fire bending…"

"I have no intention of learning fire bending yet." Nero quickly cut Kuru off, partially with his words, but mostly by grabbing her wrist and shocking her. A crowd of fire nation citizens had been approaching the duo, and Nero began to gracefully weave himself and Kuru through them. Once the crowd past, Kuru jerked on Nero's arm hard, causing him to pause. He turned back to look at her, and immediately regretted doing so.

"What do you mean you have no intention of learning fire bending?! Why are we all the way in the fire nation if you weren't going to learn fire bending? This entire trip has been a colossal waste of time!" Kuru stuck a finger so close to Nero's eye, he squinted it a bit as a precaution, in case she decided to allow her finger to go rogue and embed itself within his pupil. Using his peripheral vision, he realized the argument had attracted much unwanted attention. Every where he turned, fire nation citizens had been staring at the two; their amber eyes glued upon them, as if they thought blinking, even for a mere instance, may cause the two water benders to evaporate without a trace.

"You're making a scene." Nero's voice lowered significantly, to just barely above a whisper. Kuru's dark cheeks turned crimson, as she immediately clasped her hand over her mouth. The two began walking once more, however once they were no longer the center of attention, Nero stopped and faced Kuru. "I have no idea what I'm doing, Kuru. The only thing I know is that I'm the avatar. I'm sure there's some type of order I need to learn bending in, and I know next to nothing about the avatar state or the spirit world or anything. Chief Sokka left behind a few tidbits of information, and a couple poorly drawn diagrams, but nothing I can actually make sense of. Everyone expected the next avatar to be reborn in the Northern Water Tribe, not the Southern. But there is someone who might be able to give me a little information…or point me in the right direction." Nero walked once more, leading a puzzled Kuru behind him. "Ah here we are…fire nation royal palace."

The building before the water benders was the largest building in the entire fire nation. It had three crimson and gold towers, with the center building being the tallest. The two proceeded to walk up the giant stairs, until they found themselves standing before the door. Twin guards stood on either side, dressed from head to toe in black and red armor. "And you are?" The guard to the right spoke, his voice gruff and seemingly aggravated.

"I'm here to seek audience with the fire lord." Nero's matter of fact tone of voice seemed to anger the guard. Nero felt the air in front of him suddenly spike in temperature. It was strange to Nero that the guard had gotten so upset. In these times of peace, the fire nation certainly received more tourists, and he was sure this wasn't the first time someone requested audience with the fire lord.

"And what makes you think the fire lord has time to visit with you?" The guard on the left spoke while shifting his balance slightly. Both guards seemed ready to strike at any sudden movement; a fact Kuru seemed to notice, since Nero watched her hand stealthily float towards one of her water skins.

"Because, I'm the avatar." Nero watched the two guards exchange looks. Although their helmets prevented their faces to be seen, Nero could probably guess the looks of embarrassment currently etched on their faces. The two bowed to Nero and Kuru, and opened the doors to the palace. Nero and Kuru walked inside, and were immediately amazed at their surroundings. The carpet they walked upon was red, while the walls were a steel color with a gold strip going across the center. After wasting valuable time searching the palace, even more valuable time getting lost within the palace, and placing together theories as to why the palace was currently empty, Nero and Kuru found themselves at twin doors, extending towards the ceiling. It was here that they found the only person they had been able to locate since entering the palace.

"Ah. I've been waiting for you, avatar…" The person in front of the door had been an elderly looking man. His amber eyes were nearly engulfed by his bushy eyebrows which resembled cotton, and his long, pointed beard had been a similar color. He wore a large, crimson gown with brown sandals, and a pointed red hat. He fumbled at his sentence, as if he had to go through strenuous effort in order to speak.

"…Nero." Kuru provided the man with the avatar's given name, and placed a hand on the man's fragile and shaking shoulders. "Where is everyone?"

"The servants are off for the day…but the fire lord and fire lady are inside the throne room. You may enter, if you wish." Nero stepped forward once the old man finished speaking.

"You said that you have been waiting for me…what did you mean by that?" Nero and the old man stared at each other; Nero making his best attempt at discovering the reason behind the old man's toothless smile, which offset the look of disgust he had been giving Nero. He said nothing after that, but simply opened the doors to the throne room. Nero and Kuru exchanged looks, and decided it would be best to remain silent. The two walked inside, and down the crimson and gold lined carpet, towards the twin thrones. Fire licked at the walls on all sides, and danced wildly behind the thrones, and the two figures in them. On the left throne sat a male, whom although not quite as old as the feeble man outside, still had been of advanced age himself. His topknot had been a dull gray color, one shade away from pure white. Behind his topknot, he held a golden crown which was reminiscent of flames. His brow had been wrinkled slightly, but otherwise the fire lord seemed to be in decent physical condition. The most curious thing however, was the fact that the left side of his face had been fleshy, pink, and burnt, especially around his eye. Nero bowed, and Kuru followed suit. "Thank you for seeing me, fire lord Zuko."

"Rise, avatar. I should be bowing to you. If you're here, I'm guessing that you're seeking information about your quest." Fire lord Zuko spoke with a voice that leaked calmness and wisdom, that made Nero feel at ease. He knew that the fire lord would be able to help him on his travels.

"I am, fire lord Zuko. I have no idea what I should be doing, or even how I should be learning the four elements."

"Five." Zuko's correction caused blank stares to fall upon Nero and Kuru's face. "The order that you should follow in order to master the four elements should be the same order as the reincarnation cycle. I'll assume you've already mastered water bending, so you should learn earth bending next. Then, you should learn fire bending, and then air bending. Once you've mastered those four, you should be able to learn energy bending after you master the avatar state." Nero had heard the term energy bending once before. He recalled it was the sole reason why the air nomads had been restored, even if only partially, but the specifics evaded him.

"What happened to the other members of the original avatar team?" Kuru's curiosity overwhelmed her, and she finally spoke.

"They died." The voice was dry, with a hint of sarcasm and boredom in its tone. The fire lady, Mai, had finally spoken up. Her hair, in a style which slightly resembled a bowl cut from the top, yet had long hair in the back, had been a medium shade of gray. Her original, jet black hair color still showed through her hair, but it had long since lost its vividness in her old age. Her face was long and slender, with slightly masculine features. However, she was still a beautiful woman, even with her youth behind her. Overall, with her matching crimson and raven colored robes, she looked very eloquent upon her throne, sneaking quick glances at her husband. Their amber eye's met for a brief moment, and immediately it appeared as if their love became tangible. Even after the countless years of marriage, the two still loved each other as much as they did when Zuko first became the fire lord. "Well the majority of them anyway." Mai added in, sensing her husband opening his mouth to object.

"What? How?" Kuru tilted her head towards the right side. She often did this when she was confused, and Nero always made an effort to tease her about it. She often rebutted with a physical attack, or a strike with the nearest source of water.

"Well Katara is sick, currently on bed rest at the Southern Air Temple. She probably won't last much longer. Actually, our son, Kuzoh is visiting her currently. Toph is the current Earth Queen of Ba sing se, but her loud mouth will easily be the death of her. She hasn't quite grasped the fact that her skills have diminished since she was a child. She'll end up losing power…again…but this time permanently." Nero attempted to question what she meant by losing power, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Mai spoke both louder and quicker. "Azula broke out of prison and attacked Ty lee a few years back, so Ty lee is gone. Iroh, in return stopped Azula from attacking anyone else. Struck by your own lightning attack; such a horrible way to perish. Iroh passed away peacefully last year, and I think the Earth Kingdom is still in mourning. Various members from the Order of the White Lotus keep his spirit alive however, since they pitch in to keep the Jasmine Dragon running and up to par. The tea will never be quite as good however." Zuko gripped his robes tightly at the painful memories of his uncle. Mai took notice, and quickly moved on with her story. "When the Southern Air Temple dropped from the sky seventeen years ago, Aang used the last bit of his strength to save it, combining his earth bending and air bending. Without Appa around to catch him after he passed out however, he plummeted to his demise." Mai gently tapped her finger to her lip before she spoke again. "Am I missing anyone?" She turned to her husband, whom gave her a brief but stern stare, and then the two redirected their attention on the water benders.

"Sokka and Suki passed as well. Their ship was attacked on the way back from Kyoshi Island…but you should know that, since you're the son of the Southern Water Tribe Chief." Zuko shocked Nero with his knowledge.

"How did you…" Nero was quickly cut off by Zuko's chuckling. It almost seemed unnatural, that someone with such power possessed an ability as trivial as humor.

"The tradition of tattooing the moon upon the Water Tribe Chief and their families started when Sokka became chief. He always had a…well, let's call it a fascination with the moon." Zuko had shown Nero and Kuru a smile that said, "I know something that you don't." The two decided if it was necessary, Zuko or Mai would have informed them, and decided to pay it no mind.

"Well, we already knew Chief Sokka had been attacked by pirates, but I didn't realize how many members were still alive." Nero's statement was met by an exchange of blank stares between Mai and Zuko.

"Pirates? Is that what they told you?" Zuko sat forward, his robes shifting slightly. They looked so magnificent, so radiant and eloquent, that Kuru found herself mesmerized by their simple swaying.

"That's what happened…right?"

"The Rebellion attacked Sokka, certainly not pirates. Sokka could have easily bested meager pirates, and when he teamed up with Suki, he would have ended up stealing their ship and goods." Zuko was, then in tem, met by the blank stares of Kuru and Nero. "You weren't informed of the Rebellion, I'm assuming. To make an incredibly long story short, they are a group composed of benders from every nation, with the intent to start their own super powered nation, and conquer the remaining four. Glorified pirates, if you will, so I suppose it wasn't a total lie what they told you. But if you're supposed to bring balance to the world, you at least deserve to understand the full story." Silence fell within the throne room while the two water benders processed this information. However, before they were able to question any further, the doors slammed open. A young child, a little girl to be exact, came running in the room as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. Although she had amber eyes like the fire lord and fire lady, her eyes were large and filled with naivety. She had fair skin collection; not quite as pale as Mai, yet not quite as tanned as Zuko. Her moonless sky colored hair was pulled back in a tight, ponytail, which stopped at her shoulders. Her clothing appeared similar to Mai's, with the exception being the pink sleeves she had replacing Mai's blood red ones. Upon her shoulder sat the fire nation's main means of communication, a crimson messenger hawk. Nero and Kuru needed no explanation to realize she was the princess of the fire nation.

"Daddy, daddy! Mr. General Chit Sang sent you a hawky hawk! And that old guy you always tell me not to talk to is sleeping in the middle of the floor." Her bubbly, adorable voice was nothing like the wise voice of her father, nor the sarcastic voice of her mother. Zuko removed the message from the hawk's carrying pouch, hugged his daughter, and whispered something into her ear. She nodded, and skipped away smiling, and shut the door behind her.

"…Who is that man? I've been meaning to ask you." Kuru questioned, once she was sure the princess had moved far enough away from the door.

"Well, judging from the status report we just received, I think it's time to refer to him in the past tense. But that man was my father." Zuko clutched the unopened note in his hands, while the flames behind him seemed to rise along with the tone of Zuko's voice. It was hard to believe that a man so fragile looking, had once been the great and powerful Fire lord Ozai. Kuru opened her mouth to comment, but quickly closed it again. She had been shocked into a state of forlorn words. "I'm assuming you're wondering why he was standing there. When Aang passed, and the fire nation entered a day of mourning, Ozai had been out of prison on parole. He then grabbed a torch, headed to the center of town, and set fire to the monument built in Aang's honor, and cursed his name. And since giving him a real punishment would have been far too severe for a man of such…elderly age, I suggested a different punishment." Zuko smirked a bit, and the flames behind him returned to their previous, dancing state. "I ordered him to remain in that spot, until the next avatar returned to this very palace. Ironic, isn't it? To have to wait for the one person you despise most in your life, to appear in your life once more?" A cold shiver rushed down the spines of Kuru and Nero. Fire lord Zuko, was not the person you wanted to anger. "Uh, oh. It looks like you guys were followed. Your boat is under attack. We better move." Zuko tossed the paper into the flames behind him, and rose to his feet. Mai followed suite, and were soon being lead by Nero and Kuru back to their ship.

Once they successfully reached the shore, they found a group of fire nation soldiers spread out across the ground, along with several citizens. Some were injured gravely, and some much worst. Five warriors, dressed in pure black pants and shoes, along with a long sleeved black sweater and half mask around their mouth's had been destroying their ship, while a sixth man lingered around in the background. The five seemed to be taking orders from the sixth, as they all stopped their assault on the ship once the man pointed out the newly arrived combatants. "The Rebellion…" Zuko murmured under his breath.

"You and Mai stay back. We'll handle them." Nero then took off in a sprint towards the one's destroying his ship. He had always been rather impatient once it came to fights, and his over confidence didn't slow him down any better. The only reason he had survived so long was the sheer fact that he was good at what he did. The first man stepped towards Nero, and swing at him with his first two knuckles. At the last instant, Nero recognized the attack as the same one the Kyoshi Warriors blocked chi with, and quickly withdrew the white jian from his back in order to block the blow.

"Duck!" Kuru had sent a whip of water to follow Nero, and once Nero slid onto his knees, the whip smashed into the man Nero had been fighting, and pushed him off into the water. Wasting no time, Nero drew water from the sea in front of them and with a quick tug of his hands, smashed it into the back of a second man. The third man must have been an air bender, since Nero suddenly found himself flung into the air by a large gust of wind. However, Nero recovered quickly, and landed gracefully on his feet. Kuru then shot an ice spear at the air bender, while Nero used the small puddle of water that had cumulated on the ground from the duo's previous attacks, to catch the two other men off guard. With a quick, upward movement with his hands, Nero sent the water flying in their faces, and froze them. Just as the two had finished their attack however, they noticed a jagged stream of blue light flying towards them. Before either was even capable of reacting however, Zuko had stepped in the way. With his right index and middle finger pointed towards the blast of light, he braced himself and allowed the lightning to crash into his hand. His entire body flashed blue for a second, before he pushed his hand forward. The lightning then flew from Zuko's bodies, back to its original target. Instead of hitting the mystery man however, it instead flew harmlessly into the horizon.

"Your aim is slipping in your old age, Fire lord!" The man's voice was rather gruff, which matched his bulky body. However, acknowledging the fact that he was able to dodge a lightning attack, he was by no means slow. Four knives then soared dangerously close to Kuru's cheeks, and propelled themselves towards the man. Mai had pin point accuracy when it came to throwing sharp objects, but it didn't put Kuru's mind at any ease. The man began to rotate, while engulfing himself in a sphere of fire, which resulted in the knives melting into a liquid metal. By the time the flames settled however, Nero was already upon the man. The two then began a furious exchange of blows, with water and fire spiraling off into the sky, and zipping past the two warriors. The exchange finally ended, in the man's favor, when he elbowed downward and summoned a massive wall of fire that pushed Nero back and rolling upon the ground. He slid to his feet as a blast of fire came straight for him, and defended by quickly dragging water from either side of the man to the front of Nero's body. He then drew his sword out its sheath once more, and dragged it across the pool of water sitting below him. He then began slashing wildly into the air, which sent crescent shaped waves of ice at the man. One barely grazed his cheek, but wasn't enough to stop him from shooting a small blast of fire towards Nero's hand, and causing him to drop his weapon. Nero propelled himself into the air by forming a geyser out of the water below him, which had been a huge mistake. Moving his arms in several circular motions, he shot a bolt of lightning towards the air borne and defenseless avatar. Nero tried to focus on the cries of his friends down below, but they all had been drowned out by the mixture of thunder, and his own heartbeat. He closed his eyes, wishing for the lightning to go away. He wished that Zuko knew how to air bend, and would be able to save him. Neither of those wishes would come true today, however.

Suddenly, Nero's eyes began glowing pure blue, and the crescent tattoo on his forehead matched his eyes. With pure instinct, he mimicked Zuko's previous stance, and successfully redirected the lightning blast into the sky, while falling back to the ground. "Nero can't redirect lightning…" Kuru found herself bewildered at Nero's current appearance, as well as his hidden combat techniques.

"No…but Aang can. Nero is in the avatar state right now. He's at his most powerful…but also his most vulnerable. If he's stricken down while in the avatar state, then the avatar cycle will be broken, and there will be no more avatar. But, Nero doesn't have nearly enough experience to control this, so this may not be as big of a blessing as we thought." Zuko watched as Nero landed on the ground.

"You've made the avatar as an enemy…big mistake." When Nero spoke, it held a ghostly echo to it. Multiple voices seemed to be blended in with Nero's one, which only made his anger all the more intimidating. His fists were bawled up tight, and water seemed to be moving towards him. From the ground, from the sea, and most peculiarly, from the eye sockets of everyone within a one mile radius, as well as the sweat from anyone within the one mile radius, all fought to be by Nero's side.

"This isn't good. He can't control it!" Zuko watched the man back up, his eyes large from fear. Nero nonchalantly flicked his wrist, and sent nearly fifty needles of ice toward the man. The man was assaulted by the majority of the needles, but avoided some by jumping. However, from seemingly thin air, a large hand composed of water formed in the sky, grabbed the man's hands, and slammed him back into the ground. As a last ditch effort, the Rebellion member blasted fire from his feet, and towards, whom defended by forming an ice shield. The resulting mixture however, formed a heavy steam, which the Rebellion man used to mask his escape, as well as giving his comrades time to recover enough to move as well. Once the steam lifted, all six Rebellion members had left, with the only trace of their presence being the destroyed water nation boat before them. Nero hadn't calmed down any however, and in fact he seemed even angrier than before. Water now began escaping from the citizen's mouths and nose, as well as from homes and any other source of water. "Try calming him down!" Zuko pushed Kuru towards Nero, much to her disapproval.

"Me?! What can I do?"

"I don't know! Something!" Kuru followed Zuko's limited commands, and began walking toward Nero.

"Um…hi…Nero. It's me, Kuru. Remember me? You're really scaring us…" Nero stood motionless as Kuru talked, but water continued to rush towards him. Any second now, Nero would turn around and lash out at her, Kuru feared. However, nothing happened, even after she ended up directly behind him.

"Protect." Nero whispered, as Nero's objective finally appeared in Kuru's mind. He had been gathering water, so that he could travel. The exact details as to where, Kuru remained unsure of, but wherever it was Kuru determined two things. That he would be searching for the Rebellion, and that he planned to leave Kuru behind.

"Don't go!" Kuru began embracing Nero's backside tightly, as she spoke. "You don't have to do this alone, Nero. I'm here for you, Zuko is here for you, and we're going to help you along the way. Don't do anything rash! Just please…stay." Kuru had finally gotten through to Nero, as not only had his shining eyes and tattoo faded, but he had turned around and embraced Kuru. The embrace was very brief however, as Nero lost consciousness and slid out of Kuru's arms and onto the cement.

"Let's get him up. You two can rest here tonight, and we'll prepare a boat for you in the morning." Zuko and Kuru picked up the unconscious Nero, and began heading back to the palace for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

"I can give you a fire nation navy vessel to replace your old boat." Zuko had been sitting across from Kuru with folded legs on the ground. He calmly sipped hot tea, a taste he most likely acquired from his uncle Iroh. Behind the two, also on the wooden floor, Nero had been resting on his back. Although it had been nearly three hours, and the sun had been setting, he still hadn't awakened.

"We can't take one of your airships, fire lord?" Kuru's attention had continued to dart from Zuko to Nero, a fact that Mai took great pleasure in pointing out an hour previous.

"Well, we no longer use the warships. Instead, we use the air balloons. But that requires a fire bender to operate. I could send someone with you if you wanted…"

"No, a navy vessel will work just fine." Nero hadn't moved his body, but his eyes popped open and his mouth began to move. "I feel more at home in the water, at least until I learn the other elements. Besides, having another person along who might not be fully qualified to handle the danger that the Rebellion is going to bring would just put stress on us." The three remained silent for a brief period of time, before Kuru finally spoke.

"How are you feeling?" Her eyes seemed larger than normal, as if her concern engulfed her pupils.

"Hot. I don't think I like lightning very much." Nero retorted, sitting up with a loud groan. He barely remembered the events that happened once he entered the avatar state, but what he did know for certain was that his entire body ached.

"Rest up. You can stay here for the night and set sail tomorrow." The Firelord spoke with a certain sincerity that Nero found both warming, yet odd. A man with such strength and wisdom, sounding so sincere and worried struck Nero as strange. But then again, he remembered that in same crazy way, he was supposed to be related to Zuko. At least, that's what he heard anyways. Nero had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts however, hadn't notice Zuko slip out of the room. Nero and Kuru had been alone, which wasn't out of the ordinary since they grew up together.

"So…" Kuru began, after a rather lengthy and awkward silence. "…redirecting lightning huh? How's that feel?"

"Honestly…I don't even remember. When I entered the avatar state, the parts that I do remember…well, it was like I was watching myself from the outside. I didn't have any real control over my body, and the only sensation I remember was this overwhelming power. But, it wasn't my own. It was like I had been borrowing the power. In truth…it felt a little unnatural." Nero reflected, however he stopped once he realized something. He felt cold, besides for his right arm, which he had used to redirect lightning. That felt hot, much to his disdain. But Nero was almost never cold, and it was even stranger that he was shivering.

"Lie back down." Kuru sat up and moved closer to Nero, gently pushing him back down in the bed. She then used the water from her twin water skins to form a watery veil over her right hand. She placed this on his forehead, and Nero's entire body began to glow a faint blue, before returning to its normal shade. "Better?" Nero's body instantly returned to its normal temperature, and he quickly dismissed his irregular temperature as an effect of the avatar state.

"Yes, thank you." Nero etched a large grin upon his face, which earned him a confused look from Kuru. "Looks like my charms are working; you're practically on top of me." Nero smugly pointed out, which in return earned him a chuckle from his friend.

"You can't even handle the avatar state. What makes you think you can handle me?" Kuru grinned as well, before sitting up and returning to the center of the room. "Get some sleep hero boy. Tomorrow we're heading to the earth kingdom."

Morning broke rather quickly, and the two water benders found themselves back upon the open seas quickly. The fire nation military vessel was certainly faster than the ship that Nero and Kuru originally had, but it was a lot less comfortable and required more effort to move. By mid afternoon, the two were only several minutes away from the earth kingdom. Of course, this was due to the fact that the two had been water bending their way along the ocean, rather than letting the ship naturally flow. "Where are we going once we get there?" Kuru had been preparing for ship docking.

"I planned on visiting the Earth Queen, Toph. Who better to teach me earth bending than the one who invented metal bending?"

"She's elderly now Nero, do you think she can teach anyone?" Kuru hadn't seen the Earth Queen, but she did remember that before Toph was the Earth Queen, she had helped Avatar Aang defeat Firelord Ozai, and that was several decades ago. She had to be pushing eighty by now, if her math was correct.

"So? Who knows how ancient the previous king of Omashu was, and he still was able to earth bend pretty decently. I mean, he just past maybe ten years ago." Nero pointed out, crushing Kuru's defense.

"Hey…remember when Mai said Toph had lost power before? What do you think that meant?" Once the two had docked and reached the shore, Kuru questioned Nero.

"I'm not sure. But I'm sure we'll find out." Nero had been busy attempting to read an earth kingdom map, trying to figure out where they were. Unfortunately for the two, Nero hadn't had a chance to learn Sokka's map skills, but after a few minutes and deep concentration, he figured out that the closest way to get into Ba sing se from where they were, was an area called the Serpent's pass.

"Why don't we just take our ship and sail through?"

"Because, there's a toll and I don't have any money. Especially not earth kingdom money." Nero pointed to a toll near the path once they had begun to set up it. "

"This place isn't safe Nero; I mean I get a weird and scary vibe from here. I mean look at this sign! It says abandon hope!" Kuru had normally always remained calm, in even the direst of situations. In fact, Nero remembered a time when the two of them were younger, and had gotten themselves captured by pirates. She never even cried, let alone looked worried.

"What's the big deal anyway? Besides, we're already up the path. Be careful by the way, hug the Cliffside." Nero casually spoke, although they were hundreds of feet above the ground, on a slim side of a rocky cliff. Kuru followed his movements, placing their backs against the jagged wall of rock, scraping their backs against the sharp earth in order to keep them from falling. Neither of them looked down, which was probably for the best.

"Don't you wonder why they call it the Serpent's pass anyway?" Kuru questioned, once they passed the rocky Cliffside.

"Do you question why we're the south water tribe? Not really. Do you question why your name is Kuru? Nope. Names just aren't questionable material." Nero shrugged his shoulders, and kept walking down toward the water. On the other side, a second shore was seen. They would have to cross the river to get to Ba sing se, which was no problem for two water benders.

"No, I don't question them because they're straight forward! We're the south water tribe because we're located in the south! My name is Kuru because my parents named me that! Self explanatory! If we're going by your standards, then this path must belong to a Serpent!" Perhaps it was Kuru's yelling, or maybe just bad timing, but just as she finished shouting, the water erupted like a volcano. Once the cold water subsided, a large, green sea serpent had emerged from the water, and began glaring at the two with its beady yellow eyes. The serpent learned its face close to Nero's, and let loose a roar so powerful, he nearly lost his footing. Its breath reeked of rotten fish and decaying flesh, Nero couldn't help but notice. He turned, to see the reproachful look upon Kuru's face be replaced by a mixture of surprise and fear.

"Oh ok, we're in trouble." And with that, the two jumped into the water, preparing to fight the large serpent.


	4. Chapter 4

Nero began surfing upon the water, forming a surfboard from ice. Kuru followed close behind, skating on the water. The two began circling the serpent in an attempt to confuse it, with Nero moving clockwise while Kuru moved counter clockwise. Suddenly, Nero unleashed a large wave aimed at the serpent's right side with a quick thrust of his arms. The serpent however, simply dove back into the water and came bursting out underneath Nero. Nero was flung into the air, and would have fallen into the serpent's mouth, if Kuru hadn't made an ice slide slightly above the serpent's reach to redirect him back into the water. Kuru then compressed the water beside the serpent into twin water drills, which slammed into the serpent. It slid back slightly, and then let loose a blood curdling roar. A wave formed from the roar, which knocked Kuru off her feet and pushed her under water. It then followed Kuru, diving underwater with its sharp fangs shown. Nero took a deep breath, and dove underwater as well and then placed himself in a bubble to allow himself the ability to breath. Kuru floated nearly lifelessly underwater, as she had apparently struck her head upon a nearby rock and knocked herself unconscious. As she slowly began to rise to the surface, the serpent had been moving to intercept and swallow her whole.

"Oh no you don't!" Nero screamed from within his bubble, as he began to spin within it. All at once, he pushed both arms outwards. The result was his bubble dissolving, but he managed to freeze the entire body of water, Kuru, the serpent, and himself solid. As time stood still for the three, Nero slowly began to melt the ice around him by using his nose. He quickly made his way towards Kuru, grabbed her, and shot up to the other side of the water surface. Gently, Nero rested her upon the ground. Kuru lay motionless, her breathing absent. "Kuru!" Nero immediately began performing CPR on Kuru, breathing air slowly into her mouth. Her breathing remained absent. Nero then started chest compressions. Still, Kuru remained motionless. "I'm not letting you die on me Kuru, you hear me!"

Nero had gone through three CPR cycles, and yet Kuru remained unable to breath. His eyes filled with tears, as he started his fourth set of chest compressions. Nero's hair began to rise into the air slightly, and his eyes began glowing blue. Just as in the fire nation, Nero's voice became intertwined with the voice of avatars past. "I won't let you die!" As he breathed into Kuru, both his body as well as Kuru's began glowing blue, before fading. Nero left the avatar state, as Kuru's eyes opened. The first thing she did was cough, spewing water from her mouth like a geyser.

"Was I…?" Kuru began questioning, before Nero placed his slender finger in front of his lips, and made a shushing sound.

"Don't worry about it." Nero helped her up, and the two began to walk away. Nero was only able to take about three steps however, before stopping and turning back to the large body of frozen water, and the sea serpent trapped within the block of ice. "…I'm going to let it go." Nero turned around, and walked back toward the frozen sea serpent. Kuru turned and followed, protesting as he overlooked the frozen bay.

"Why? That thing is blood thirsty! It tried to kill us. And besides, it's only frozen. It will thaw out within a day or two."

"Kuru, I'm the avatar. Causing harm to anything to the harm is bad enough, but it's not right making something suffer like this. I mean, it probably only attacked because we were trespassing upon its home. Everyone fears it, but if someone showed it sympathy…then just maybe, it'll be ok."

"Nero, this isn't a badger mole we're talking about, or koi fish. It's a sea serpent!" Kuru's words fell on deaf ears, as Nero had already walked a few steps onto the ice. He then closed his eyes, and clasped his hands together with the fingertips sticking up into the sky. While exhaling deeply, Nero pushed the palm of his hands down towards the ice; causing all but the tiny strip he was standing on to melt. The serpent busted out the water, and flung its jaws at Nero. "Move!" Kuru cried out from behind Nero. However, Nero remained perfectly still. His face was entirely calm, as he stared deep into the serpent's menacing crimson eyes, which had been growing closer by the second. The serpent stopped; with one of its teeth gently biting into Nero's left shoulder. Nero responded by rubbing the head with his right hand, and closed his eyes.

"It's ok, I understand. I'm not here to hurt you, but you've got to stop attacking others. Ok?" In truth, Nero had no idea if the sea serpent was able to understand him, but he assumed so. It seemed more peaceful and playful, with less aggression. It pulled off Nero's shoulder, which besides for the puncture wounds in his shirt was relatively unharmed. The sea serpent then backed away, gave Nero one more longing look, and then dove into the water and vanished.

During the entire trip into Ba sing se, Kuru kept questioning Nero as to how he was able to calm the sea serpent down. Nero continued responding that he wasn't sure, and that his shoulder was a little sore despite their only being a minuscule mark from the serpent's teeth. Ba sing se was a rather busy city, filled with the bright, shining smiles of young earth benders, and the strong faced older earth benders. No one said anything to Nero or Kuru as they walked through the town, towards the Earth Queen's palace, but simply stared for a brief moment, and then went on about their days. Once they had finally reached the doors of the Earth Queen palace, two guards lingered about the doors. Unlike the guards at the fire lord's palace, they weren't alert and intimidating, but looked rather bored and lazily leaned against the walls beside the door.

"We're here to see Earth Queen Toph." Kuru spoke to the one on the left. He lifted up the brim of his gold and green hat, allowing his brown eyes to peer into Kuru and Nero's.

"Why would you want to do that?" The guard questioned, to the surprise of both Nero and Kuru.

"We've got something to talk to her about. We're from the water nation, and that's the avatar over there." The guard looked at Nero, flashed a smile across his crusted lips, and bowed in respect. He then turned to the other guard, who had remained motionless and speechless throughout the brief conversation.

"Ro, open up the doors. Hey, Ro! Wake up! We need to open the palace doors!" The second guard jumped up from his slumber, and grabbed the handle of the palace door. The two pried it open, and Nero along with Kuru walked into the palace. After getting lost numerous times, they finally found the throne room. There upon the golden and green throne, sat a woman. She was rather short, her feet barely reaching the ground. Despite her obvious old age, she was rather in shape with muscular calves sticking out of her green and goldish-yellow dress. As a belt, she wore the traditional earth kingdom symbol. The top half of her dress was green, with golden specks going through it. She also wore a golden cape, which she had been playing with at the current moment, pushing it and pulling it as If it were flailing in the wind. Her face was pale, and very pretty despite it being covered in wrinkles on the sides. Her eyes were a sea foam green color, and continuously scanned the room with no exact destination. She had long, eloquent gray hair with streaks of black mixed in, and a large group of banks hanging across the bridge of her nose. At the top of her hair, she had a black cowlick, with a gray tip.

"Hey puddle foot! Oh and you too raindrop." Toph's voice sounded mocking with every word. Nero and Kuru looked at each other in an attempt to figure out who she was referring to, but Toph continued. "The girl is puddle foot, because her foot steps are solid as if she was stepping in a puddle. The avatar is raindrop, because his footsteps are quick but light, like rain falling."

"How did you know I'm the Avatar?"

"When you hang around Avatars for so long, you begin to be able to detect their avatarness." Toph's answered confused Nero, as there was no such thing as "Avatarness."

"…Anyway, Earth Queen Toph. Myself, my name is Kuru by the way, and Avatar Nero have come here for one reason. Please train Nero in the art of earth bending." Kuru had attempted to sound as respectful as possible as she took over the conversation.

"Well I could…but…no!" Toph stuck her tongue out at Kuru and Nero, before grinning. "I'm done training avatars. I've got a one per lifetime limit." She continued. Kuru at this point, was visibly angry.

"Don't worry Nero, I don't think this old hag can earth bend anymore period."

"What?!" Toph's voice shot up three pitches as she screamed. She then slowly rose up, facing Nero. "So your friend doesn't think I can still earth bend huh…well, watch this!" Toph made a chopping motion with his hand, causing a pillar of earth to shoot out from the ground in front of Nero, whom dodged by sliding on his knees. He then pulled his arm back and whipped it, causing water to form from the sky and whip at Toph. She then was able to block the attack by motioning at her rest. A black metal band quickly popped off, and shaped into a small shield which the water slammed into.

"She can bend metal..?" Kuru's voice was filled with amazement, as she watched the battle. Toph continued the fight, by making multiple chopping motions and stomps. Suddenly, pillars popped out and surrounded Nero, before shooting out at him. Nero began quickly moving his arms in a circle in front of him, drawing water from the air as well as Kuru's water pouch. It surrounded Nero and turned to Ice, just as the pillars struck, causing them to become stuck in the ice orb. Nero then let the ice melt, and he dropped onto one of the pillars.

"I'm just getting warmed up!" Toph began moving towards Nero, when he quickly blurted out his surrender.

"Ok, I get it! You still got it!" Nero slid off the pillar like a slide, and back onto solid ground.

"And don't you ever forget it!" Toph returned to her throne, and cleared her throat before continuing. "Now, like I was about to say before puddle foot over there interrupted me. I won't train you, but my apprentice can." She sucked in a large breath of air, and then screamed at the top of her lungs "Kaya! Get in here!" Rapid footsteps were heard, before the throne room doors swung open again and a girl stood in the doorway. She was taller than Toph, which wasn't very hard. Her skin was the same paleish tone as Toph. She had black hair, which extended to her lower back. The bangs on her face went across the bridge of her nose as well as a few strands hanging in her eyes. Her ears were covered with her hair, which stopped at her chin. As she walked closer, her violet eyes were seen darting between Toph, Kuru, and then rested upon Nero. She had a small beauty mark under her right eye. Atop her torso she wore a pale yellow vest, which revealed her midriff and opened at the top. Under her vest, she wore a green shirt with small sleeves, which ended at the same length as her vest. She had a half skirt on her left side, which matched her vest color, and long green pants.

"You can stop screaming now Toph, I'm right here." She never took her eyes of Nero, and a smile flashed upon her face. "Well hello and you are?"

"Uh, I'm Nero. The Avatar."

"And I'm Kuru." She was sure to make her presence known which earned a glance and smile from Kaya.

"Nice to meet you both. So what did you call me here for?" Kaya received the explanation that she was to teach Nero earth bending, which she seemed almost overly delighted to do.

"On second thought Toph, no thanks. I think we'd rather have someone more skilled than your daughter." Kuru pointed out.

"First off, that's not my daughter. There's only one man I've ever been interested in, but he's always been into Kyoshi warriors instead. He was the one who got away." Toph sighed a bit, before returning to her normally hyperactive self. "And you have a real problem with underestimating other people's abilities. I propose a faceoff between you two. If Kaya wins, she gets to teach Nero. If Kaya loses, I'll teach Nero myself. Deal, puddle foot?"

"Yeah, is it Kurd? It's fine by me." Kaya added, taking a fighting stance.

"It's Kuru! And yeah, I'd love that." Kuru smiled as she took a fighting pose.

"Then it's settled!" Toph launched an earth catapult by stomping on the ground, sending both her and Nero upward and away from the two women. "Kaya versus puddle foot! Ready…fight!"


End file.
